Tuesday, October 20, 2009

So meatcutting ends tomorrow, and I am extremely happy. I'm kind of tired of standing in a freezing cold room cutting up dead animals all day. It's somewhat interesting, but I'm ready to move on.

A cold front entered Miami this weekend, and temperatures went down to GASP, 70 degrees?! It was actually really funny because all of the people from down here were freaking out about how cold it was and I loved it. It felt like Massachusetts in September, so I enjoyed it greatly.

Nothing actually really that interesting is going on right now, and I don't really have any good stories, so I feel like this is kind of a pathetic post, but my birthday is Thursday and I'm really excited. My two best friends here are apparently planning a ton of stuff, and my friends from back home are being amazing and sending me gifts and cards and such. When your birthday comes around you really figure out who cares about you. I wasn't expecting really anything so I feel really really lucky.

Anyways, I have to go study for my meatcutting exam tomorrow on different parts of different animals and what cuts of meat come from each animal...interesting stuff....so I'll be sure to update after my birthday festivities are over! Sorry for the lame post.

Monday, October 12, 2009

So I'm on the last day of my four day weekend. I expected it to be really fun, because I hardly have any homework and hey! It's four days! But it turned out to be RIDICULOUSLY boring. EVERYONE went home for the weekend. Seriously, campus was like a ghost town it was crazy. So there wasn't really anyone to hang out with, which was kind of depressing. I had my friend Jess but that was about it, so we just relaxed a lot. We bought coloring books, cleaned the whole dorm, ordered Chinese food, hung up Halloween decorations, watched a LOT of TLC, WALKED (when we both have cars) down the street to Jamba Juice, etc. It was just pretty lame.

Anyways, I'm currently in meatcutting right now. I have a love hate relationship with this class. I really like the teacher. His name is Chef Lazar and he's from Brooklyn and is just really relaxed and laid back and funny. I think the class is interesting, and I like the idea of butchering...I'm just really slow and kind of bad at it. It was hard to go from being one of the best in my last class to one of the slowest and worst in this class. Meatcutting just doesn't come naturally to me, but I'm pushing along! I've tucked, trussed, and deboned about 10 chickens already, so hopefully I'll be a pro soon enough.

We just booked the ticket home to Walpole for Thanksgiving on November 19th! So excited to get home. I really miss everything, especially fall. Jess and I bought a pumpkin pie and Halloweenified our dorm this weekend because we missed the leaves and what not. I'm thinking about making a giant construction paper tree on the wall with falling leaves that I can play in. It's not the same down here. The palm tree leaves are kind of falling? But they're brown and ugly. I'm a true New England girl through and through...which is why this weekend ALSO was terrible because of the poor Red Sox. There are so many Yankee fans down here so I've been ridiculed and criticized all weekend. I've held my own though, wearing my Sox gear and keeping up with the games so I have something intelligent to say. I'm quite proud of myself. I love that dirty water.

Finally, here's a shoutout to Emily and Natalie, my two crazy friends who have been keeping up with my blog and following me. They're pretty awesome to really care so much about what goes on here at JWU, and I miss them a ton! Thanksgiving break, craziness will ensue. :) Love you both.

Sorry for such a late update! Computer troubles this week. More soon. Beaucoup d'amour. (:

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

So because you guys have all been fantastic at following my blog, I thought I'd give you a little treat. Here are some pictures of my life at school! Enjoy.So here I am attempting to bust open this coconut we found on the beach. We named him Coco...pretty lame name right? We liked it though.

Here I am with my two closest friends here. I'm on the left, Jess is in the middle, and Marina's on the right. We had just spent a day at the beach and were in a store in North Miami.

Here I am with my friend Stephanie in the dining room at lunch. We look pretty gross. No makeup or anything is allowed in class, so this is au natural. The blue neckerchief shows that we are Culinary Arts freshmen. Each class and year wears a different color neckerchief.

Here I am with my friends Marina and Mike. We're out to dinner for Mike's birthday at this awesome little Cuban restaurant right next to the school. Deeeelicious. He's wearing a crown I made for him with my friend Jess and I'm holding the card I made.

I'll give you guys some more later! It only allows me to put a few up at a time. More updates will come soon. A bientot!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

So I've gotten my first culinary school knife cut. :( I was practicing for my practical the other night slicing up carrots, my knife slipped, and then there was blood. Lots of blood. I cut both my middle finger and ring finger at the same time, and it hurt. But it's okay. I feel like a real chef now, and I did pretty well on my practical! My chef is really really tough, but he liked most of my stuff, so I felt good.

I got picked to work on the line in class the other day. That means I worked to prepare the plates for the dining room, like in a real kitchen. It was super crazy, but wicked fun. I realized that I work best under pressure, which is good for a chef, because you're always under pressure. I think I can handle this industry, and it makes me happy. :) I finish this class on Tuesday, then start Meatcutting...should be interesting?

I'm in the Culinary Community, like I said in an earlier post. We go on different trips and have meetings. It's really fun. Yesterday we went to a fruit and spice park about an hour away from here. It was so cool. We got to try all these different strange fruits like strawberry fruit. It tastes like cotton candy! It was really hot but a really cool trip.

I've been having a lot of fun with all my friends. Going to the beach, making food, talking, dancing around the room and meeting lots of people. We went shopping today for Halloween. We're going to be French mimes. It's gonna be awesome and really cool, we're gonna make up a whole mime routine. Anything French is fine by me. (:

I really miss home though. I miss going to the movies with Dad and watching Top Chef and The Office with him. I miss the color changing leaves, the way they crunch under your feet, the brisk cool air, etc. I miss Bostonians! No one says "wicked" down here, only a few people are Red Sox fans, and people make fun of me for saying "jimmies" instead of sprinkles. I love it down here, but know I'll find my way back to New England. It's not the same down here, and I really have grown to appreciate where I've come from, my family, my friends from home, and of course, Marley. It's really not until you've been away from home for a while that you see and realize how much you love and appreciate it. Please continue to send letters and mail, and I'll try to respond. It makes my day when I get mail, because it's like a little piece of home coming to Miami. I love all the support.

Having a cozy girls night tonight, there's not much going on right now, which is weird for a Saturday night. But I don't mind it. It's nice just to relax. I'll update later! A bientot (: